Nelson Mandela 'looking much better', says Jacob Zuma

Nelson Mandela is "looking much better" and is in "good spirits",
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma said yesterday after joining the former
leader's family on a Christmas Day visit to the 94-year-old's bedside.

Nelson MandelaPhoto: EPA

Erin Conway-Smith in Johannesburg

11:19AM GMT 25 Dec 2012

Mr Mandela, who has spent 18 days in hospital since being airlifted from his village home in Qunu to Pretoria hospital for treatment, was also visited by wife Graca Machel.

"We found him in good spirits," Mr Zuma said in a statement. "He was happy to have visitors on this special day and is looking much better. The doctors are happy with the progress that he is making."

Mr Zuma's office, which is responsible for issuing updates on the former president's condition, has given no indication of when he might be discharged.

Mr Mandela was admitted to hospital December 8 for what was initially described as routine tests. He has since been treated for a recurrent lung infection, and underwent an endoscopic procedure to remove gallstones.

Eldest grandson Mandla Mandela, who is a chief of Mvezo village where the anti-apartheid icon was born, told a South African television network that the family was saddened by his absence from home this Christmas.

Mandla Mandela said: "We didn't anticipate that he would be away for so long."

South Africa's first black president has been in frail health in recent years. He spends most of his time at home in the Eastern Cape countryside, receiving few visitors.

He was hospitalised for an acute respiratory infection in January 2011, and kept as an inpatient for two nights.

Mr Zuma admitted last week that the former president's condition was serious when he was flown to hospital, for what has turned out to be his longest stay in more than a decade.

Mr Mandela became South African president after the country's first fully democratic elections in 1994. He stepped down after serving one term.